The goal of this set of analyses is to take a deeper dive into the 2019 Seattle calls for service data. To follow up on the preliminary exploratory analysis, we will focus on three types of cases - Disturbance, Suspicious person, and trespass - as well as one type of case resolution - No possible action possible. The questions we want to address here include the following?

  1. Where did the three types of cases occur?
  2. How were these three types of cases resolved?
  3. Does the type of resolution differ by location?
  4. What types of cases were cleared without police action?
  5. Where are the cases that were resolved without police action located?

Focal Case Types

Table 1: Frequency of Focal Case Types
Case Type # of Calls
Disturbance 81,758
Suspicious Person 48,878
Trespass 24,500
Table: Calls By Precinct for all 3 Case Types
Precinct # Calls %
NORTH 47,207 30.43
WEST 44,583 28.74
EAST 24,994 16.11
SOUTH 22,779 14.69
SOUTHWEST 15,550 10.02
Table: Calls By Precinct & Case Type
Case Precinct # Calls % in Precinct
Disturbance WEST 24,404 54.74
Disturbance EAST 13,652 54.62
Disturbance SOUTH 12,378 54.34
Disturbance SOUTHWEST 8,077 51.94
Disturbance NORTH 23,244 49.24
Suspicious Person SOUTHWEST 6,346 40.81
Suspicious Person NORTH 17,990 38.11
Suspicious Person SOUTH 7,639 33.54
Suspicious Person EAST 6,920 27.69
Suspicious Person WEST 9,963 22.35
Trespass WEST 10,216 22.91
Trespass EAST 4,422 17.69
Trespass NORTH 5,973 12.65
Trespass SOUTH 2,762 12.13
Trespass SOUTHWEST 1,127 7.25
Table: Calls By Precinct & Case Type
Case Precinct Sector # Calls % in Precinct
Disturbance SOUTH SAM 4,413 63.6
Disturbance WEST DAVID 6,243 58.5
Disturbance EAST EDWARD 6,800 55.9
Disturbance WEST KING 8,621 55.9
Disturbance EAST GEORGE 3,561 54.4
Disturbance SOUTHWEST WILLIAM 4,132 54.2
Disturbance NORTH UNION 5,942 52.7
Disturbance EAST CHARLIE 3,291 52.3
Disturbance WEST MARY 5,325 52.3
Disturbance SOUTH ROBERT 4,780 51.3
Disturbance WEST QUEEN 4,215 50.7
Disturbance NORTH NORA 4,673 50.2
Disturbance NORTH LINCOLN 4,400 49.9
Disturbance SOUTHWEST FRANK 3,938 49.8
Disturbance SOUTH OCEAN 3,182 48.8
Disturbance NORTH BOY 5,314 48.7
Disturbance NORTH JOHN 2,915 42.3
Suspicious Person NORTH JOHN 3,098 45.0
Suspicious Person SOUTHWEST FRANK 3,350 42.4
Suspicious Person NORTH BOY 4,364 40.0
Suspicious Person SOUTHWEST WILLIAM 2,987 39.2
Suspicious Person NORTH NORA 3,367 36.2
Suspicious Person NORTH UNION 4,075 36.1
Suspicious Person SOUTH ROBERT 3,344 35.9
Suspicious Person NORTH LINCOLN 3,086 35.0
Suspicious Person SOUTH OCEAN 2,265 34.7
Suspicious Person EAST CHARLIE 2,009 31.9
Suspicious Person WEST QUEEN 2,632 31.7
Suspicious Person SOUTH SAM 2,025 29.2
Suspicious Person EAST GEORGE 1,903 29.1
Suspicious Person WEST DAVID 2,691 25.2
Suspicious Person EAST EDWARD 3,008 24.7
Suspicious Person WEST MARY 2,021 19.9
Suspicious Person WEST KING 2,619 17.0
Trespass WEST MARY 2,827 27.8
Trespass WEST KING 4,184 27.1
Trespass EAST EDWARD 2,350 19.3
Trespass WEST QUEEN 1,467 17.6
Trespass EAST GEORGE 1,077 16.5
Trespass SOUTH OCEAN 1,071 16.4
Trespass WEST DAVID 1,738 16.3
Trespass EAST CHARLIE 995 15.8
Trespass NORTH LINCOLN 1,337 15.2
Trespass NORTH NORA 1,268 13.6
Trespass SOUTH ROBERT 1,186 12.7
Trespass NORTH JOHN 874 12.7
Trespass NORTH BOY 1,230 11.3
Trespass NORTH UNION 1,264 11.2
Trespass SOUTHWEST FRANK 617 7.8
Trespass SOUTH SAM 505 7.3
Trespass SOUTHWEST WILLIAM 510 6.7
Table: Resolution by Precinct
Precinct Case Type # Calls % in Precinct
SOUTH Disturbance 12,378 54.34
SOUTH Suspicious Person 7,639 33.54
SOUTH Trespass 2,762 12.13
EAST Disturbance 13,652 54.62
EAST Suspicious Person 6,920 27.69
EAST Trespass 4,422 17.69
SOUTHWEST Disturbance 8,077 51.94
SOUTHWEST Suspicious Person 6,346 40.81
SOUTHWEST Trespass 1,127 7.25
WEST Disturbance 24,404 54.74
WEST Suspicious Person 9,963 22.35
WEST Trespass 10,216 22.91
NORTH Disturbance 23,244 49.24
NORTH Suspicious Person 17,990 38.11
NORTH Trespass 5,973 12.65

Other Descriptive Statistics

The majority of calls come from 911. However, the distribution of calls looks a little different for suspicious person reports compared to disturbance and trespass reports. The table below shows that over one-quarter of suspicious-person calls come in via another telephone number, whereas 21% of the reports for trespass and disturbance come in via some other telephone number.

Cases where no police action was possible or necessary